Ash tray



Patented June 2, 1.942

#UNITED STATES PATENT O FFICE 'I v t 2,285,341 -v E Y Asn my v Y y,Margaret n. Lyon, New York, N. Y. Appliation August 1o, 193s,V serialNo. 289,360

' acume (c1. zoe-v2) This invention relates to shallow receptaclesadapted for use as ash trays, as coasters and for otherpurposes where itis desired to support an article out of contact with 'asupportingsurface, such as a table or other piece of furniture.

It is an object of the invention to provide a receptacle of the typedescribed which may be easily and cheaply manufactured and thrown awayafter having been used only once or a few times.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a receptacle suitablefor the purpses intended which is reversible and usable in either of twopositions with equal advantage, and which is adapted tocarryadvertising, pictorial or other ornamental printed matter or decorationon both sides of the bottom member.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a receptacleorsupport of the type described whichvis made up of a separable bottom andside wall members which are respectively adapted to be interchanged withother members of similar form.v j

The use: of ash trays, coasters and similar receptacles and supports asa means of carrying advertising for display in hotels, restaurants andother public places is Well known, and there is a demand for articles ofthis type which are cheap enough 'to permit oftheir use for only alimited period and then discarded;

However, Vas heretofore available, ash trays bearing printed advertisingmatter have been too expensive to encourage wide distribution foradvertising purposes, due in part to the expense of printing or stampingthe advertising matter onV the individual trays. Simple flat disccoasters have not presented such a problem because their form has madethem susceptible of automatic feeding and manipulation in printing andother decorating operations. However, it has not been of advantage toprint or decorate such coasters on both sides because it is impracticalto reverse them once they "have been used to support a beverage glassandhave become wet or stained by the beverage.

According to my invention, the ash tray or other receptacle is made. ofseparable parts, the bottom usually being made of a'ilat disc, printedand decorated onl both sides, and the side walls being formed ofV an,open-ended tubular member provided intermediate its ends with a recessor ledge Vadapted to supportV the bottom disc in either of the twopossible positions. 'This construction insures that the bottom disc isspaced is desirable as creating an air space, preventing overheating anddamage. to the finish .ofthe supporting surface in case the receptacleis used as an ash tray. When it is to be used as a coaster the spacedrelation of the bottom to the sup- 1 porting surface is an advantageinthat it prevents marring or soiling of the appearance of the side of thedisc that is beneath, thus preserving its appearance and usefulness forlater use in the top or exposed position. At the same time, when thebottom disc has beenreversed, bringing the,

` previously used and probably soiled surface beneath, this surface iskept out of contact with the table or other piece of furniture uponwhich it is disposed. It will be seen that irrespective of the use towhich the receptacle is to be put, it serves to present twice the areafor advertising display that is afforded `by the present trays and,moreover, permits a given receptacle to be the medium for carrying twoentirely different, or differing but related, forms of advertising.

The construction of the ash tray,`coaster or other shallow receptacle inseparable parts has, among others, the advantage that it permitsinterchangeability of the bottom discs or holders f with others made ofdilerent material or which are differently printed or decorated. Thus,it is within my invention to provide a holden-the open-ended tubularmember,-of a relatively permanent type and material and to associatetherewith a disc of a relatively inexpensive material.

For example, the holder may be made of metal,

lthe holder may be made very advantageously from various types of paper,asbestos and other sheet materials, usually but not necessarilyimpregnated, and I describe my construction with more particularreference to the use of various combinations of asbestos and paper.

When the receptacle is intended to serve as an ash tray, the open-endedtubular holder and the bottom disc should be made, in their surfaceportions at least, of a fire resistant material. In the case ofcoasters, it is'desirable that the bottom disc be somewhat waterabsorbent but, at

from the table or other supporting surface. This the same time,suflicientlyimpervious to water and other liquids to insure that liquidsspilled thereon will not pass through.

In making ash trays according to the invention, various forms of ilreresistant sheet material may be used for the holder and the bottom disc,such as impregnated Paper. I have found, however, that my constructionmakes it possible to use asbestos to better advantage than heretofore.It is recognized that it is dimcult to print or decorate asbestos. Byproviding a separable bottom member in the form of a flat disc I haveovercome the difnculty that has heretofore been met with of handling andmanipulating asbestos ash trays to produce a printed or other decorationthereon. In the form of discs, asbestos lends itself readily to printingand decorating processes. I have also'found that when asbestos islaminated with a more water resistant material to form the bottom disc,the resulting disc is particularly suitable for use in coasters, theasbestos providing the desired water absorbent qualities while thesupporting water resistant material prevents the water from passingthrough.

Other objects and advantages of the inven- I tion will appear as thedescription proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a perspective view of one form of the invention with thebottom and side walls in assembled relation and usable as an ash tray, acoaster, or for other purposes;

Fig. 2 is a part perspective, part section view of the bottom disc;

Fig. 3 shows a part side elevation and part section on the line 3-3 ofFig. l;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section through part of the side wall of thetubular member showing a somewhat different form ofl retaining recessfor the bottom disc;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section of part of a further modified constructionof the tubular member;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of part of a still further modifiedconstruction of the holder or tubular member;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an open ended tubular member differingfrom that shown in Fig. 1 in that it has doubly flared sides;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a still further modification of thetubular member which is ilared continuously from one end to the other;and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of still another form of the open-endedtubular section.

As shown in Fig. l, the receptacle is made of a straight sided tubularmember or ring I0 and a at circular bottom disc I2. The ring I0 isprovided with an internal groove or recess I4 which may beadvantageously rolled into the ring while it is held in a die or form.As shown, the ring comprises a wall I6 made of sulphite tag stock facedwith long ber asbestos paper I6a and an outer layer of smooth paper I8,which may be colored and printed or otherwise decorated to impart apleasing appearance or to display advertising.

The bottom disc I2 may be made of asbestos mill board and .is intendedto have suitable advertising matter or a decoration printed or otherwiseimpressed on both sides. In place of mill board, I may use, and haveshown in Figs. 2 and 3, a laminated sheet material, which may, forexample, comprise long ber asbestos paper I2a laminated on both sides ofa relatively stii and water impervious paper layer I2b, such aschipboard or sulphite tag stock. Other materials having fire resistantproperties may be used provided they also combine therewith sufilcientstiffness or strength to serve as a. support for the uses intended and,at the same time, are capable of being flexed sufficiently to enablethem to be sprung into place and removed from the holder as desired.

In the process of manufacture, the asbestos ring or holder may be formedin various ways, one advantageous method being to form a tubular memberof the length conforming to the width of the asbestos sheetl laminatedor otherwise, as it comes from the manufacturer. This tube is thensevered into rings of the desired length and thereafter a layer of paperis applied to the outer wall of the ring and crimped over the ends, asshown at 20. The beading or rolling of the inner wall of the ring toprovide the bottom supporting recess or ledge may be effected eitherafter the ring has been severed from the original tube section or whilethe tube section is intact and before severing of the rings.

The disc retaining recess I4 may be formed in various -other ways.Examples are shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. In Fig. 4 the ring I0 is shownas made up of a wall I6 of sulphite tag stock faced on its inner sidewith long ber asbestos paper I6a and an outer layer of paper I8 crimpedover the ends of the ring as at 20. However, in this form the bottomdisc retaining groove is shown as produced by forming two parallelannular beads I5 on the inner periphery of the ring, these beads beingso spaced as to dene therebetween a groove Illb adapted to receive theperipheral edges of the disc and retain the disc in spaced position withrespect to the ends of the ring. As shown, the bead is produced byrunning a suitable' beading instrument around the outside of the ringafter'the paper layer I8 has been applied and while holding the ring ona mandrel or other suitable means designed to prevent inwarddisplacement of the walls except along the lines desired. The use of asingle bead defining a ledge upon which the bottom disc will rest ineither position of the holder is also within thescope of my invention.

In Fig. 5 still another form of wall construction is shown. In thismodification the ring I0 is made up of a sulphite tag board ring section22, an outer'smooth paper layer I8 and a pair of shorter asbestos ringsISc associated with the section 22 respectively adjacent its ends andleaving between them a recess or shoulder I4c. The rings I6 c aresecured to the section 22 by a suitable adhesive and the edges 2i) ofthe outer paper layer I8 are curled over the ends of the section 22 andthe rings IEc and secured to the rings Ic by an adhesive.

In Fig. 6 the open-ended tubular section or h older I0 is shown asformed of an inner ring section 22 which may be, for example, made ofsulphite tag board and an outside smooth paper layer I8 which is curledover the ends of the section 22 and extends down the inner wall of 22from both ends but not quite meeting, thereby defining between them arecess or groove Md adapted to receive the edges of the circular bottomdisc I2 and hold this disc against accidental displacement. When thering is to be used ln forming an ash tray, the paper layer I8 isselected from those having fire resistance.

In Fig. 7 the open-ended tubular section I0 is shown as ared outwardlytoward both ends from a middle point adjacent the circular groove I4.The opposite edges of the ring are also shown ends of v.said tubularmember and dividing the i as cut away .at 26 to provide cigarette rests.Otherwise the construction is the same as that of Fig. 1 and is subjectto modification-according to the constructions of any of Figs. 3, 4, 5

and 6.

f Fig. 8 shows still another modification differ-` ing from thepreceding in being flared outwardly from the one end, at 28, toward theother end, at 30.

Fig. 9 shows still another modification in which the open-ended tubularmember I0 is made rectangular; in cross section but is otherwise of thesame general construction as shown in the preceding gures. f

Where the term ash tray is used in the claims, it is-to be understood asincluding other shallow receptacles adapted for similar uses, such ascoasters and the like.

member into halves of similar shape and size, said groove operating tosupport and hold said bottom member in spaced relation to a supportingsurface, and said bottom member being brought into pressure engagementwith said supporting means and flexed into and out of pressureengagement throughout the periphery of the groove with said supportingmeans without dismantling said tubular member.

2. A reversible ash tray comprising a one-piece open-ended shallowtubular member defining the side walls and a one-piece bottom disk, saidtubular member including an inner shallow tubular section of relativelystiff self-supporting paper stock and an outer tubular section ofrelatively It is to be understood that the forms of the l inventionshown in the drawing are intended to be illustrative and are not to beconstrued as limiting the scope of the invention exceptas set forth inthe appended claims.

I claim:

1. An ash tray comprising a one-piece openended shallow tubular memberand a separable one-piece bottom member cooperating to produce areversible tray, said tubular member being provided intermediate its topand bottom with an inner peripheral groove equally spaced from theMARGARET H. LYON.

